During Easter I joined Rob and Martin and spent 6 very enjoyable days on a bushwalk in the Blue Breaks. Our goal was to traverse the Bimlow Tableland. I had been on two walks last year where that was a goal – but the weather then did not cooperate. Would it be any better this time? Also t0 to get to the Bimlow Tableland and back in 6 days would mean some long days of walking.
The Coxs River is an ideal river for a packrafting trip. Its too difficult to access via canoe or kayak as the easiest exit place involves a 15km bushwalk. It can be visited by lilo. I have done two lilo trips down the river – both in high water and both quite scary and probably dangerous. This was my first packraft trip down the river – and it didn’t take long to work out that its also the best way to see the river.
Its good to do an overnight canyoning trip. Often more remote canyons can be linked together and a lot of canyoning can be done in the available time. On this trip we planned to visit four canyons. Two with our overnight packs and two as side trips with minimal gear. In the end, with cool weather, late starts and a bit of pfaffing we only visited two canyons. But it was still a very nice trip.
I have recently uploaded some of my canyoning videos to YouTube.
One is from a nice trip through Claustral Canyon filmed in December 2007 when there was a fair amount of water flowing through the canyon. This was filmed about a week after the sad death of Ian Knapp in the Thunder Canyon part of the trip. Ian was a person, who like me, loved this canyon.
Another is from a trip through Twister and Rocky Creek Canyons in 2006. It starts with a roller coaster ride through Twister Canyon – with lots of water jumps and slides. Rocky Creek Canyon is a grand, spectacular place – but the jumps continue at first. Then a Broad Headed Snake poses for the camera. This was a classic trip!
The third in the canyoning theme is a trip through Mt Hay Canyon in 2003, in high water, and then the climb up the Tom Williams route up Butterbox Point to exit.
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Peggy, helped by Helen and Terence, organised a Welcome Day for new members of SUBW. It was held at a nice spot in Lane Cove National Park. On the day, we had quite bad weather. The morning was quite wet and it was thought that a lot of people may not be willing to venture out in the rain.
However, we had a nice large shelter shed and from the site we could update people with emails and Facebook updates reassuring them that most of the event would be under shelter and that the forecast was for rain to ease around noon. Continue reading
Sarah had organised a weekend of canyoning at Newnes and with a good weather forecast (at last!!!) it was easy to decide to join the party. As well as Sarah, there was James, Dan, Kate and Rob and Disco joined us on Sunday.
Sarah abseiling into the Wallaby Tunnel of Newnes Canyon
On the Saturday we visited Firefly Canyon. This was a very pleasant outing. The route to the canyon was not too difficult – a nice pass up the Wolgan cliffs and then some nice scrambling to get down to the creek. Then an easy walk down to the canyon. With plenty of recent rain, the water level was up – and this made for a much better than usual visit. The canyon was in top condition. Continue reading
My New Alpacka packraft had arrived and it was time to take it out for a run. The major rivers were too high I thought. Digi Dave suggested a paddle up the Woronora River. That sounded like a good plan.
Rain (yet again….) was forecast. But Sunday turned out to be a beautiful day. At least at first. There was a storm later on in the afternoon. If anything, the morning was too bright and sunny. I had not anticipated the forecast being wrong and had neglected to take sunscreen and a hat – so I did get a bit sunburnt. Continue reading
We visited this canyon on a wet day. Despite the continual rain – we had a great time. The canyon was very beautiful – and some water was flowing!
Here are a few photos from the day –
Last weekend I was in a big group that camped at Deep Pass Clearing in Wollemi National Park. The purpose of the gathering was to celebrate the birthdays of James and Sarah.
During both days, many in the group visited nearby canyons. Saturday was a beautiful fine day (rare this summer!) – and it wasn’t far to go to see some nice canyons.
Below are a selection of photos from the day.
Dead Tree Canyon lies in the Wollangambe Wilderness. It is a tributary of the South Branch of Bungleboori Creek. It was first descended by Bob Sault and Ian Wilson of SUBW in early 1982. After being in the party that did the first descent of Crikey Canyon the day before, they had been dropped off at the end of the Waratah Ridge fire trail. They set out, and after exploring the canyon, they then had to walk back to Bell to catch a train to the city. On that first descent – they had had to push their way through the branches of a recently fallen tree on one of the early abseils – hence the canyon’s name.
